The Wisenet Blog

All about People, Process, Technology, written for education and training professionals around the world.

Ben Hamilton

Ben is the CEO & Co-Founder of Wisenet. The self-professed Troubleshooter is passionate about human rights, education, and science and technology. Besides whipping up delicious meals that create food envy, Ben enjoys extracting real business value from new and disruptive technology, and his current work at Wisenet revolves around creating products and services that remove operational complexities. He is currently based in Singapore.

Effective April 2016, Unfunded International Providers (UIPs) in New Zealand must report data to the Ministry of Education (MoE).

The MoE UIP data collection system is an improved means of collecting education data that reduces providers’ compliance costs by replacing manual collections.

This mandatory electronic data collection provides the MoE with data on international students participating in education in New Zealand at Unfunded Private Training Establishments (PTEs). These data sets include:

official name, date of birth, residency;

provider and component enrolment;

component and qualification completion.

Through the system, the Ministry performs ongoing checks to ensure the integrity of the data stored in the system.

No more exports. No more manual submissions. No more fuss.

The MoE is right on the money here. The days of manual data collections, exports, imports, uploads, and errors are fading fast. The future is here, and it is instantaneous with live links and automation between consumers, business, and government. Ignore at your own peril!

In a world where disruption rules, it looks like the education industry is about to have its Uber moment.

It seems the world has spoken, and prestigious universities are responding by accelerating the democratisation of learning.

Here's the question: is MIT, one of the most prestigious universities in the USA, really willing to sacrifice millions in student fees by offering courses for free? Is this a race to the bottom, or the dawn of something new?

Thursday's successful launch of the NBN Co's Sky Muster Satellite means high speed internet access for 200,000 Australians living in remote and regional areas is a significant step closer!

Rockets and satellites are risky business - a launch failure (i.e. an explosion) would be an expensive and major setback for the NBN (despite a $50 million insurance policy price tag). Satellites take years to build; launch windows are expensive and rare. Fortunately, it was a text book launch and all systems are GO!

Trust is the new currency in our economy. From airbnb to Uber; from Volkswagen to your registered training organisation, trust is a valuable commodity in this new economy. Betray your customers' trust at your peril.

Training providers who genuinely engage in building trust with their customers are sure to see the rewards in positive word of mouth and high staff retention, and will enjoy good relations with regulators.

The recent Volkswagen emission scandal is an example of industrial-scale deception. Why does this matter to VET Fee-Help Providers in Australia, and how can businesses and registered training organisations ensure sustainability? Who are the real victims of scams?